Divining Women - Hardcover

In her darkest yet most redeeming novel, Kaye Gibbons scorches us with a firestorm of despair - then resurrects love and hope from its very ashes. Autumn, 1918: Rumors of peace are spreading across America, but spreading even faster are the first cases of Spanish influenza. Maureen Ross, well past a safe childbearing age, is experiencing a difficult pregnancy. Her husband, Troop - cold and careless of her condition - is an emotional cripple who has battered her spirit throughout their marriage. As Maureen's time grows near, she becomes convinced she will die in childbirth. Into this loveless menage comes Mary Oliver, Troop's niece. The sheltered daughter of a well-to-do freethinking family, she arrives to help in Maureen's last weeks of confinement. Horrified by Troop's bullying, she realizes that her true duty is to protect her aunt.

• Kaye Gibbons lives in Raleigh, North Carolina
• Gibbons' novel Ellen Foster was chosen as one of Oprah's Book Club Selections and adapted into a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie
• Gibbons has been influenced by early 20th-century African-American poets, and writes in an idiomatic Southern dialect
• Her writing shows an intimate knowledge of the burdens of Southern women and the strength they possess that helps them to overcome the difficulties in their lives